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It Was 26 Years Ago Today

Twenty-six years ago today, I saw Duran Duran at Madison Square Garden. I saved the ticket stub in a scrapbook.

I also saved two clippings about the after-party at the Cat Club because I was there. I went to the concert with a music critic from a New Jersey newspaper. She’d been invited to the after-party but was dubious about going, especially accompanied by a 19-year-old who looked 15 (me). She figured the band would be huddled in a VIP area and it would be a waste of time smuggling me past the bouncers. I told her I had a strong feeling we should go — I believed seeing Palladium DJ Anita Sarko in the MSG audience was an auspicious sign — and I was right because the band performed at the Cat Club! Oddly, I have a more vivid memory of boldly making my way to Anita Sarko to shake her hand and declare myself a huge fan than of the Cat Club concert. Maybe I was so excited by the mini-concert that the relevant brain cells burst from happiness. That said, I swear to God that I was not the “Duranie in heat” described in Michael Musto’s highlariously bitchy Village Voice article below. Wait a minute! I’m going to take a cue from Nile Rogers, who is a very smart man. If it looks good in print, please say I WAS the Duranie in heat.

Click to enlarge.

The Village Voice laid off Michael Musto this May. He’d been writing his column there since 1984. (Happily, he’s got a new gig already.) As a teenager, I wanted to grow up to be Michael Musto: a gay man hanging out with famous people and writing about it. Before that, when I was in elementary school, I wanted to grow up to be (what we then called) an “Indian brave.” Damn. People tell you that you can be anything you want, yet somehow I failed to become a man of either the Native American warrior or fabulously homosexual variety. WHAT HAPPENED TO MY LIFE?!?

UPDATED AGAIN TO ADD: I’ve always been amused by Twitter bios that include factoids like “So-and-so celebrity tweeted me on XYZ date!” But now that Duran Duran HQ has tweeted …

… and Facebooked this post …

… I understand the desire to share! No, I’m not going to put it in my Twitter bio, but I will say “hi!” to all the Durannies stopping by. If y’all are interested in other ’80s stuff, I share some personal style photos in my Throwback Thursday posts. And here’s a picture that I was saving for a future post, but there’s no time like the present for reminiscing about this pink-and-white Duran Duran jumper, which I wore while playing ping pong in an artfully decorated basement.

Circa 1983.

It’s hard to read the band’s name on the upper left side of the top, but it’s definitely Duran Duran. I had forgotten all about this top, but as soon as I saw the photo, it all came rushing back — how I got it on my first trip to England and how long I brooded over which was the right top to purchase. It’s like it was yesterday!

“I always say to people, the Eighties were so inventive because people wanted to stand out. By the time we got to the Nineties everyone wanted to fit in. It was all about having the same pair of trainers and the same pair of jeans. That’s fatal. Whereas the Eighties you would NEVER be seen in the same pair of jeans that somebody else was wearing. You wanted that one jacket that nobody else had.”

I must’ve missed that one, but I think at that point I had moved in much different directions musically. I was at the Cat Club nearly every night… usually getting into trouble (of the good sort!) How great that you saved the stubs! XXX

When I was little kid I didn’t even know who they were. I just knew that my cousin loved Duran Duran, and that my family all said I was just like my cousin. So I figured that must mean I would love Duran Duran too.

I have a load of Duran Duran books somewhere in boxes we are taking out of storage. You know, those silly, made for teenage, fangirl books they used to sell by the boxful in bookstores. If I find them as we go through the boxes…I will snap a photo of them for you.

I was obsessed with them from ages 11-13…then I started getting into punk rock and went in another direction.

Thank you for this post and the link to the GQ article. I’m still convinced that Nick and I are meant to be together though I see he has a new girlfriend. Hrmp. I finally saw them for the first time in 2011, front row, in Montreal. It was awesome! I caught Roger’s drumstick and gave it to my sister.

One more thing… Nick’s quote about the 80’s… nail on the head.
Miss the individuality so badly!
Love Nick more and more.

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MEET WENDY BRANDES

Award-winning designer of fine jewelry inspired by women's history and pop culture. A former journalist who writes about jewelry, fashion, medieval history, news, feminism, dogs, cats and whatever else is on her mind. Blogging since 2007.